I have never cteated a wiki or even been on one. I was scared a first, but it became easier once I messed around with it. I still find it extremely difficult to navigate my wikis. Schoos would have to do an inservice in order to get all teachers on the same page. Teaching your class to use wiki would require extensive use of a computer lab if one is available. How would you incorporate parents into the fold? I can definitely see the huge potential for the use of wiki in the classroom. For instance, wiki would be great for interdisciplinary projects. What a great way to communicate with the entire class. I really love the idea where students can build on each other's ideas. It seems that students can learn and teach by using this technology. More importantly, wiki can porvide shy students with an opportunity to contribute to projects and class discussions.
This is a very powerful tool in the hands of teachers. Wiki could be a valuable tool to use to collaborate with colleagues. Teachers and students can download and post tons of materials.Teachers can post homework and create a separate wikis for each class. Wiki can have a poweful impact on teaching in the 21st century.
Although wiki can be fun and enlighting, great measures would have to be in place to safeguard students. Students will need to be reminded that what they create will be on the internet. They must be extremely careful of violating the privacy of others. Having the ability to set private settings and restrict access is an invaluable tool.
You make a great point about taking measures to protect students on the Internet. It is key to discuss online behavior and Internet safety with our students, no matter what subject we teach. All of us should be saying the same thing to the students. Just as we speak with one voice on hallway behavior or lunchroom rules, it should be the same with all classes. Repetition, repetition, repetition! And you are so right about wikis needing to be taught to our students and the necessity of a computer lab handy when you do it. Nothing beats hands-on experience when it comes to technology!
ReplyDeleteWhen introducing something of this magnitude I would defintitely implement safety first not just for the class but for the entire school. There should be a list of school wide rules for internet use across the board. I also like how you can post homework assignments, projects and exams on your wiki it'll help keep the usage of paper to a minimum. High school students could really benefit from this which could change the way we teach in the future.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was an interesting point when you said it requires a lot of computer time to make the wiki work with students. In a way I agree because certain wiki projects I have done students were in constant edit mode. In other projects I made sure students did a lot of prep work to ensure that wiki building went fairly quickly.
ReplyDeleteWhen you said that wikis would require a lot of professional development, what did you mean? Do you think that teachers would need PD on how to create a wiki or ways to use wikis with their class?